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XP Install won't write to HDD?

ratherGroggy

Posted 18 November 2008 - 02:53 PM

ratherGroggy

New Member

Member

2 posts

My desktop computer had been acting really sluggish lately. The CPU load would shoot up to 100% at about 1 second intervals and it was difficult and sometimes impossible to open any programs. I wasn't sure what the problem was.

One day, after a crash, I tried to restart my computer and got "A Disk Read Error Occurred, Pres CTRL-ALT-DEL".

So I did.

Same thing.

I tried to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows (first Vista--no luck, then XP) on the hard drive, but I would get the same error whenever the CDROM was first boot and the HDD was second (if HDD was first boot, it would just try to restart the computer without saying anything).

The install goes fine--I suppose, no errors--and it gets to the point of it restarting. But once it restarts, I get the "Disk Read Error" each time. I've tried two Win XP CDs and a Vista CD. Same stuff.

Is my hard drive busted?

I have a second hard drive (same make and model) and it does the same thing. They were both running during the initial crash. I've tried both of them on the two different cables I have in the tower.

Thanks for the help!

Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz
2GB RAM
500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16

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mohater

Posted 18 November 2008 - 04:38 PM

mohater

Member

Member

30 posts

My desktop computer had been acting really sluggish lately. The CPU load would shoot up to 100% at about 1 second intervals and it was difficult and sometimes impossible to open any programs. I wasn't sure what the problem was.

One day, after a crash, I tried to restart my computer and got "A Disk Read Error Occurred, Pres CTRL-ALT-DEL".

So I did.

Same thing.

I tried to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows (first Vista--no luck, then XP) on the hard drive, but I would get the same error whenever the CDROM was first boot and the HDD was second (if HDD was first boot, it would just try to restart the computer without saying anything).

The install goes fine--I suppose, no errors--and it gets to the point of it restarting. But once it restarts, I get the "Disk Read Error" each time. I've tried two Win XP CDs and a Vista CD. Same stuff.

Is my hard drive busted?

I have a second hard drive (same make and model) and it does the same thing. They were both running during the initial crash. I've tried both of them on the two different cables I have in the tower.

Thanks for the help!

Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz2GB RAM500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16

Any loud clicking noises?

Sounds like a possible dead boot sector.

Have you tried formatting the original drive that had Windows on it?Make sure you try a full format, not a quick.

If you need to recover data, use a working computer to mount the hard drive in or use a live CD, like Knoppix or the Live cd version of Ubuntu.

wannabe1

Posted 18 November 2008 - 04:48 PM

wannabe1

Tech Staff

Technician

16,645 posts

Hello ratherGroggy...

Sounds like you have SATA drives and you aren't installing the drivers for them when you begin the Windows installation. Without them, Windows will not be able to find the drives. You should see a prompt as you start the installation to "Press F6 to install special third party drivers" or something to that effect.

The drivers will be on the motherboard cd or will be available on the manufacturer's website. Be sure to read up on how they need to be installed...it may require a floppy drive.